Sekani

Sekani is both the name of an Athapaskan first nation and the language of the same name in the northeast of the Canadian province of British Columbia . The Sekani call themselves Tse'khene , Tse Keh Nay , Tsay Keh Dene or Tθek'ehne , depending on the dialect, which means 'people in the stony mountains'. 'Sekani' is an Anglicization of this term. Other forms that are occasionally found (especially in older sources) are Secunnie , Siccanie , Sikani , and the French Sékanais . They were also called Rocky Mountain Indians or Big Men by the Mountain Men , Trappers and Explorers Alexander MacKenzie ( Gaelic : Alasdair MacCoinnich ) or Simon Fraser . The neighboring Kaska called some Sekani groups Sastotene - 'Black Bear People', other Sekani groups, however, Tseloni - 'Mountain Top People', the tribes along the Skeena River (the Gitxsan ) and along the Nass River (the Nisga'a ) the Sekani call it T'set'sa'ut - 'people in the interior'.

residential area

Their residential area, which included dense spruce forest as well as alpine tundra, extended from the upper Fraser River northwards along the Rocky Mountain Trench to the headwaters of the Kechika River , a tributary of the Liard River , comprised the area around Williston Lake , westwards over the northern foothills of the Takla Lake , as well as along the Finlay River and Parsnip River (which together form the Peace River ). The neighbors of the Sekani are the Tsimshian- speaking Gitxsan (also 'Gitksan', formerly Interior Tsimshian ) in the west as well as the likewise Athapaskan- speaking peoples of the Babine and Witsuwit'en (or Wet'suwet'en) in the southwest, Dakelh (formerly often also Carrier called) in the south, the Daneẕaa ( Dunneza , obsolete Beaver ) in the southeast as well as the South Slavey ('Denethah') and Kaska ('Kaska Dena') in the northeast and Tahltan (also 'Nahanni') in the northwest. Because of the expansion of various hostile Plains Cree and Woods Cree groups westward, several Cree groups lived and live in the east of the Sekani.

Way of life

The Sekani were culturally and linguistically so similar to the neighboring Daneẕaa that they are regarded as a subgroup of the Daneẕaa who had retreated into the mountains under the pressure of the Cree advancing westward . The Sekani hunted with iron-tipped weapons that they had acquired through trade from the Dakelh living in the west, according to their own information. The Sekani were under constant pressure from the Cree and Daneẕaa, who attacked them from the east, as well as from the Secwepemc (often called Shuswap ), who attacked from the south. Relations with the Dakelh, on the other hand, were friendly. The social structure of the Sekani was organized similarly to that of the Daneẕaa. Hunters hunted bison east of the Rocky Mountains and killed moose , mountain sheep and mountain goats in their home hunting grounds and, following the seasons and animals, migrated from the valley floors to the mountain regions.

Today's Sekani First Nations

Kaska Dena Council

• Kwadacha Nation (formerly 'Fort Ware Indian Band', the First Nation consists of both Sekani and Kaska Dena , Fort Ware (Kwadacha), the main settlement and administration, is located in the most populous reservation Fort Ware # 1, is on the left bank of the Finlay River , approx. 3 km west of the confluence with the Kwadacha and Fox Rivers, approx. 570 km north of Prince George in British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain Trench, Reserves: Fort Ware # 1, Sucker Lake # 2, Weissener Lake # 3 , approx. 4 km², population: 425)

Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council

• Takla Lake First Nation (is a merger of the North Takla Band and the Fort Connelly Band in 1959, the main settlement is Takla Landing in the North Takla Lake Reservations # 7 and # 7A, about 320 km north of Prince George, on the left bank of Tatl'ah Bun ( Takla Lake ), today the tribe members mostly speak Canadian English and the Babine dialect of the Babine Witsuwit'en , until recently many still spoke Sekani, and some Gitxsanimaax , some also speak the Nak 'albun ( Stuart Lake ) dialect of the Dakelh , today they identify as carrier, reservations: Driftwood River # 1, Bear Lake (Upper Driftwood River) # 1A, Bear Lake (Tsaytut Bay) # 1B, Bear Lake (Tsaytut Island) # 1C, Bear Lake (Kotsine) # 2, Bear Lake (Sustut River) # 3, Bear River (Fort Connelly) # 4, Tsupmeet (Patcha Creek) # 5, Klewaduska (Cataract) # 6, North Takla Lake # 7, North Takla Lake # 7A, North Takla Lake (West Landing) # 8, Takla Lake (Ferry Landing) # 9, North Takla Lake (Bates Creek) # 10, Cheztainya Lake # 11, North Takla Lake # 11A, North Takla Lake # 12, population: 703)

Independent First Nations

• McLeod Lake Indian Band (also 'McLeod Lake Tse'Khene First Nation', the main settlement and administration of McLeod Lake is located in the most populous reservation McLeod Lake # 1, on the north shore of McLeod Lake, approx. 150 km north of Prince George, reservations: Arctic Lake # 10, Blue Lake # 24, Bear Lake # 32, Carp Lake # 3, Davie Lake # 28, Finlay Bay # 21, Hominka # 11, Kerry Lake East # 9, Kerry Lake West # 8, Mackenzie # 19, McIntyre Lake # 23, McLeod Lake # 1, McLeod Lake # 5, Pack River # 2, Quaw Island # 25, Sas Mighe Indian # 32, Tacheeda Lake # 14, Tom Cook # 26, War Lake # 4, Weedon Carp # 6, Weedon Lake # 27, Weston Bay # 20, approx. 160 km², population: 618)
• Tsay Keh Dene First Nation (also 'Tsay Keh Dene Band', formerly 'Ingenika Indian Band', former tribal area of ​​the Tsay Keh Dene stretched north to Mount Trace, west to South Pass Peak, south to the Nation River and east to Mount Laurier, while the administration is in Prince George , the rest of the settlements and the reservations are all to the north of Prince George, in the area of Lake Williston , reservations: Ingenika Settlement, Mesilinka, Parsnip # 5 (on the left bank of the Parsnip River near Fort Grahame), Police Meadow # 2 (6.5 km east of the Finlay River, 24 km northwest of Fort Grahame), Tutu Creek # 4 (on the left bank of the Parsnip River near Fort Grahame), approx. 2 km², population: 431)

language

Their language, the Sekani or Tse'khene , is spoken fluently by around 30 - 40 (1997 Sharon Hargus) mostly older adults today and around 60 others understand it. However, most Sekani now speak Canadian English. Sekani is therefore extremely endangered and almost extinct.

Sounds

Consonants

Sekani has 33 consonants:

		bilabial	alveolar		post- alveolar	velar		glottal
			central	lateral		not more labial	labial
Plosive sound	not aspirated	​p​	​t​			​k​	kʷ
	aspirated	(pʰ)	tʰ			kʰ	kʷʰ
	ejective		tʼ			k '	kʼʷ	​ʔ​
Affricates	not aspirated		​ʦ​	tɬ	​ʧ​
	aspirated		ʦʰ	tɬʰ	ʧʰ
	ejective		ʦʼ	tɬʼ	ʧʼ
Nasals		​m​	​n​
Fricative approximants	unvoiced		​s​	​ɬ​	​ç​	​x​	xʷ	​H​
	voiced		​z​	​l​	​j​	​ɣ​	​w​

• Like other Athapaskan languages, Sekani does not distinguish fricatives from approximants.

Vowels

	front	central	back
high	​i​		​u​
medium	​e​	​ə​	​O​
deep		​a​

Ethnologue / ISO / DIS 639-3 code

SEK

See also

List of North American Indian tribes

bibliography

• Sharon Hargus: The lexical phonology of Sekani (= Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics ). Garland Publishers, New York NY 1988, ISBN 0-8240-5187-4 .
• Marianne Mithun: The languages ​​of Native North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-23228-7

Web links

• Sekani entry on First Nations Languages ​​of British Columbia page
• Bibliography of Sekani Books
• Map of the First Nations of the northwest coast (including Sekani)
• Ethnologue entry
• Tsay Keh Dene Online
• History and map of the Tsay Keh Nay First Nations territories

Individual evidence

1. ↑ as T'set'sa'ut , the Gitxsan and Nisga'a also referred to the Kaska, the actual Tsetsaut and other northern tribes
2. ↑ Sekani Indians of Canada
3. ^ Canada's First People - Subarctic People
4. ↑ Carrier is the English translation of the Sekani name Aghelhne - 'those who carry something' or 'the porters' for the Dakelh, as their widows carried the ashes of their deceased husbands for three years in a sack
5. ↑ Major aboriginal nations ( Memento of the original dated June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ^ Kaska Dena Council
7. ↑ Homepage of the Kwadacha Nation ( memento of the original from March 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Carrier Sekani Tribal Council (CSTC)
9. ↑ Takla Lake First Nation ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Homepage of the McLeod Lake Indian Band ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC): Population, Reserves of the Sekani, November 2011 ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.